1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to working machines such as excavators, especially to a hybrid working machine including plural electric devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The related art will be described taking a hybrid excavator as an example.
As shown in FIG. 7, in this excavator, an upper rotating body 2 is mounted on a crawler type lower traveling body 1 rotatably around a vertical axis which is vertical to the ground. A working attachment 9 including a boom 3, an arm 4, a bucket 5 and including a boom cylinder 6, an arm cylinder 7 and a bucket cylinder 8 for, respectively, actuating the boom, the arm and the bucket is attached to a front part of this upper rotating body 2.
A cabin 10 is mounted on the left side of the front part of the upper rotating body 2, and a counterweight 11 is equipped on a rear end of the upper rotating body.
An engine room 12 is provided on a rear part of the upper rotating body 2, and an engine 13 serving as a power source is installed in this engine room 12 (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3649147 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1)).
It should be noted that in the present specification, expressions “front and rear” and “left and right” indicate the directions seen from an operator who sits in the cabin 10.
FIG. 8 shows a block configuration of a drive system and a control system of this hybrid excavator.
A generator motor 14 for performing a generator operation and a motor operation and a hydraulic pump 15 are connected to the engine 13, and driven by the engine 13.
Discharge oil from the hydraulic pump 15 is supplied to hydraulic actuators such as the boom cylinder 6, the arm cylinder 7 and the bucket cylinder 8 shown in FIG. 7 and a left and right traveling hydraulic motor (not shown) through a control valve (which is the collective of plural valves each of which is provided for each of the actuators respectively) 16, so that the hydraulic actuators are driven.
Meanwhile, a power storage device (a power battery) 17 as a power source made up of a secondary battery or the like is connected to the generator motor 14 through a controller 18, and a rotation motor 19 serving as a rotation driving source is connected to the generator motor 14 through an inverter 20.
The controller 18 controls charging and discharging operations and the like of the power storage device 17 in accordance with excess and deficiency of generator output of the generator motor 14.
The inverter 20 switches the generator motor 14 between the generator operation and the motor operation, and controls generated power or an electric current as the motor or torque.
Conventionally, hybrid devices mounted in such a hybrid excavator are installed in the engine room 12 or the like as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-107230 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2).
Among the devices mounted in the hybrid excavator, the hybrid devices such as the power storage device 17 which are electric/electronic devices generating heat themselves and being sensitive to the heat (hereinafter, referred to as the devices to-be-cooled) require to be cooled down (air-cooled) for ensuring the original performance and the life thereof, and protected against the heat from the other heat generating devices (such as hydraulic devices including the hydraulic pump 15 and the control valve 16, and a muffler of an engine).
However, the known techniques shown in Patent Documents 1, 2 do not regard this point, and the device to-be-cooled and the other heat generating devices are only mixed and arranged on the same plane. Therefore, flow of the cooling air to the device to-be-cooled is basically inferior, so that a cooling effect is low and a thermal influence from the other heat generating devices is easily transmitted.
Particularly, in a case of the hybrid excavator, the hybrid devices are added to limited space of the existing machine. Thus, since the devices are concentrated on the space, the above problem is worsened. Therefore, there is a problem that the performance and the life of the device to-be-cooled are decreased.